Today
we reached the real climax of the gospel of Mark. Tomorrow we get the empty
tomb, and that is big, of course. But today we finally see someone recognize
that Jesus is the Son of God.
From
the beginning, Mark tells us that Jesus is the Son of God (1:1). In case we
miss the point, a voice from heaven almost immediately repeats it at Jesus’
baptism (1:11). But the disciples don’t get it. After Jesus stills a storm,
they ask, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him” (4:41)?
Jesus pushes them, asking, “who do you say that I am?” Peter’s answer is good,
but still incomplete (at least as recorded in Mark): “You are the Messiah”
(8:27). So once again, the voice from heaven reminds us “This is my Son” (9:7).
And still, no human being in the gospel of Mark recognizes Jesus as the Son of
God.
At
last, in the penultimate chapter of the gospel, someone calls Jesus the Son of
God. And it is the centurion who crucifies him (15:39)!! He is the only one in the
entire gospel of Mark to discover the secret at its very heart: Jesus is the
Son of God.
Compounding
the paradox is how the centurion knows. Not by watching Jesus work miracles or
teach or confound opponents. The centurion recognizes Jesus as the Son of God
by watching him die in agony! Jesus cries with a loud voice, “My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?” “Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw
that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was God’s Son.’”
“In this way he breathed his last”! Mysteriously, God is revealed in suffering.
Only when Christ dies is his divinity finally apparent. What an amazing climax
to an amazing gospel!
Fr.
Harvey
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